SPECIES 15. FRINGILLJi LIN^RM. 
LESSER RED-POLL. 
[Plate XXX.— Fig. 4.] 
Lath, ii, 305. — Jlrct. Zool. 379 . — Le Sizeren, Buff, iv, 216. — - 
Peale’s Museum, JYb. 6579. 
This bird corresponds so exactly in size, figure and colour of 
plumage with that of Europe, of the same name, as to place 
their identity beyond a doubt. They inhabit during summer 
the most northern parts of Canada and still more remote north- 
ern countries, from whence they migrate at the commencement 
of winter. They appear in the Gennesee country with the first 
deep snow, and on that account are usually called by the title 
of Snow-birds. As the female is destitute of the crimson on 
the breast and forehead, and the young birds do not receii^e 
that ornament till the succeeding spring, such a small pro- 
portion of the individuals that form these flocks are marked 
with red, as to induce a general belief among the inhabitants of 
those parts that they are two different kinds associated together. 
Flocks of these birds have been occasionally seen in severe 
winters in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. They seem par- 
ticularly fond of the seeds of the common alder, and hang head 
downwards while feeding, in the manner of the Yellow-bird. 
They seem extremely unsuspicious at such times, and will al- 
low a very near approach without betraying any symptoms of 
alarm. 
The specimen represented in the plate was shot, with seve- 
ral others of both sexes, in Seneca county, between the Seneca 
and Cayuga lakes. Some individuals were occasionally heard to 
chant a few interrupted notes, but no satisfactory account can 
be given of their powers of song. 
